Before we explain sleep apnea, let's quickly break down how breathing works. When you're awake, the muscles of your throat act to keep the airway straight and open so air can flow in and out of your lungs. When you sleep, these same muscles relax and your throat gets narrower. Normally, this doesn't close the airway, it just slows down breathing during sleep.
A male chicken under one year old is called a cockeral. A male chicken over a year old is called a cock, or rooster. A female chicken under the age of one is called a pullet. A female chicken over the age of one is called a hen. Not all chicks are hens. Chicks can be cockerals or pullets.
Castrated roosters are called capons (surgical and chemical castration are now illegal in some parts of the world). Females over a year old are known as hens and younger females as pullets although in the egg-laying industry, a pullet becomes a hen when she begins to lay eggs at 16 to 20 weeks of age. In Australia and New Zealand (also sometimes in Britain), there is a generic term chook /ËtÊÊk/ to describe all ages and both sexes.